The 2008 UK 3-player
national championship was held on September 13, 2008, at Fan
Boy 3 in Manchester. The winners were posted by Sam Roads in the Shadowfist
Forum on Yahoogroups on 15 Sep 2008. (members can read the original in the archive)
I asked permission from Sam but he didn't respond; he has given permission for
other posts in the past so I've assumed this is ok too.

Congratulations
to Clint Oldridge!

The Welsh had a
really good time at the Manchester 3 player UK Nats. Thanks to Anthony for hosting
it in impeccable order, with plenty of dry wit, and to FanBoy3 for providing
a good space to play in.

We missed the first
round due to the motorway between Cardiff and Manchester being closed, but found
a way round the hold up and got there in time for the last four rounds.

Ed Lane (GenCon
UK champion) won all 4 of his matches. Clint Oldrige (UK 4 player National champion)
won 3 plus best placed in a time out, Gary Hooley and myself won 3 out of 4
rounds, leaving Anthony to do some Mathemagics and declare that I was not in
the final! Curse of Discord! I Will Avenge You! :D

The final was a
brilliant game. Ed had a smooth start, laying down sites and resources and Gaz
began reloading Rituals of Death with his Priestess of I, trying I think 5 times
to kill a Sword Saint. During this time Clint was misfiring, with not a single
Big Macaque.

Ed looked like
he had a chance, but a couple of turning sites kept him at bay. Gaz produced
a horde of weenie doom, but was stymied by Ed's huge hand of stops. There was
some aggressive brinkmanship from Gaz, zapping some of Clint's Monkeys when
Ed was looking strong, and also a classic 'Dear Diary' moment, when Ed said
'Done' and Gaz responded with some fast effects which triggered Ed's Heaven's
peak card drawing, the net result of which was Gaz losing 6 characters and a
site.... If only he had just started his turn... ;)

Eventually Clint
got the win by his fingernails, with a devestating turn of multiple monkey madness,
involving exactly enough fighting, shurkiens and events to take two sites, despite
loads of blockers and stops.

Everyone agreed
that each of the three finalists had a very good chance to win, and commended
Clint on his play.